Namak pare recipe, one of deep fried snack from Indian cuisine often made during festivals or holidays. Also known as namak para, savory diamond cuts or nimki.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 30 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 6 · 6 to 8 servings
  • Category: Snack
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 2 cups atta/wheat flour ((or 1¾ cup all-purpose flour + ¼ cup semolina/suji))
  • 5 tablespoons oil (or ghee (4 tablespoons if using all-purpose flour))
  • ¼ teaspoon hing (/ asafoetida (optional))
  • ¾ to 1 teaspoon salt ((adjust to taste))
  • 1 teaspoon ajwain (/carom seeds)
  • ½ to ¾ teaspoon black pepper (crushed)
  • ½ cup water ((+more as needed))
  • Oil (as required to deep fry)

Method

Make Dough

  1. Mix together flour, salt, suji (if using), hing, ajwain & pepper. Pour oil & nicely rub the flour well in between your palms until the oil is well incorporated into the flour.
  2. Pour water little by little only as needed (start with ⅓ cup) and form a stiff/tight dough (not as soft as roti dough). Taste the dough and check the spice and salt level, if needed add more salt or ajwain or pepper.
  3. Knead it for 1 to 2 mins, avoid over kneading. Divide the dough to 4 parts and roll them to balls. Keep them covered with a moist cloth.

How to Make Namak Para

  1. Grease a rolling board with a few drops of oil. Begin to roll the ball to a 8 to 9 inch even chapati / roti.
  2. With the help of a knife or a pizza cutter, begin to cut vertically drawing straight lines that are 1 inch apart. Begin to cut from the corners to get diamond shaped cuts. You can also cut them to squares or long strips.
  3. Transfer these to a large greased plate and set aside. Begin to make the rest.
  4. Heat oil in a deep pan on a medium heat. To test if the oil is hot enough, drop a small portion of dough, it should sizzle and rise to the surface without burning or turning brown.
  5. Gently slide the namak para to the hot oil, one after the other. Do not add a lot of namak para at one time. Fry them stirring often until golden and crisp.
  6. Remove to a steel colander and cool completely. Fry them in batches. Make sure the oil is not too hot before you fry the next batch. You can refry if any of the batches are not crisp.
  7. Transfer the cooled namak para to a air tight jar and serve within 2 weeks.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.